DHL Debuts Carbon-Neutral Shipping Envelope

Emails and video conferencing can reduce a company’s carbon footprint and overhead. But there are somethings you just can’t email. Shipping packages and important documents has a significant negative impact, requiring lots of packaging and carbon emissions from planes, trains, and automobiles.

As a world leader in logistics, DHL is well positioned to reduce the impact of shipping. The company recently expanded its environmental services by introducing a carbon neutral recyclable DHL Express Envelope, which will allow customers to access reliable shipping without a big carbon footprint.

Image via DHL

Obviously, the envelopes will still be made from paper, and DHL will still use planes, trains, and automobiles to move they from place to place. So how will they be carbon neutral?

According to a press release, DHL will calculate the CO2 emissions associated with the handling and transport of every individual DHL Express Envelope, and then offset the carbon impact of these emissions through investments in recognized climate protection projects. The calculation and offsetting process for the GOGREEN envelope will be verified annually based on the ISO14064 standard, by Société Générale de Surveillance, an independent audit company.

“Making the DHL Express Envelope carbon-neutral is one more way to help businesses make smart, environmentally responsible transportation decisions,” said Ian Clough, CEO of DHL Express U.S. “As we are increasingly being challenged by our customers to help them build a green supply chain for their global operations, we are confident the enhanced DHL Express Envelope GOGREEN service will deliver one more answer to that challenge.”

Beth Buczynski is a freelancer writer and editor currently living in the Rocky Mountain West. Her articles appear on Care2, Ecosalon and Inhabitat, just to name a few. So far, Beth has lived in or near three major U.S. mountain ranges, and is passionate about protecting the important ecosystems they represent. Follow Beth on Twitter as @ecosphericblog